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By Jason Moore

THE Balearic government has been busy telling anyone who would listen that the islands would not re-enter recession again this year. This rather unusually upbeat forecast was made by the Balearic government shortly before the New Year celebrations. Unfortunately, no-one believes their optismitic claim, infact most people believe that the islands will return to recession this year including the banks and the trade unions. The Balearic government had said that they thought that the islands would enjoy positive growth while the rest of the country went into red. With the enormous budget deficit which was unveiled by Spain last week it would be a miracle if the country didn´t go into recession and the Balearics are included. I suspect that the local economy will be in rec ession until the tourist season gets underway in the late spring. The Balearic government must keep its fingers crossed and hope that tourists come in the numbers which are being forecast by the tour operators. 2012 is going to be a make or break year for the Balearics. Hopefully, by the end of the year the economic gloom will start lifting again and things will start to return to normal again. But, there is still a long way to go. The Spanish government has announced enormous spending cuts which are going to hit the islands hard. I suspect that unemployment will continue to rise. No recession? I think the local government got slightly carried away with the New Year fun.